Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Paraguay and from Spokane.
But I was there.
I was there in 1983.
I was there at the first Bronski Beat show in Brixton.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1965 to 1971.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Winnipeg and Halifax.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Stockholm kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the synthesizer sounds with much patience.
I was there when Donald Fagen started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing The Mighty Diamonds to the grime kids.
I played it at the Roxy.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Sound Behaviour. All the underground hits.
All Robert Hood tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The Pretty Things record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal rock hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '50s cut and another box set from the '90s.
I hear you're buying a güiro and a mellotron and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Pagans record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitar and bought a synthesizer.
I hear that you and your band have sold your synthesizer and bought a guitar.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
The Happenings,
David Axelrod,
The Zeros,
Suburban Knight,
Subhumans,
The Beau Brummels,
The Slits,
Mars,
Young Marble Giants,
Blancmange,
Simply Red,
the Germs,
The Slackers,
The Moody Blues,
Wolf Eyes,
Bill Wells,
The Tremeloes,
The Blackbyrds,
Bobby Sherman,
Sarah Menescal,
Fela Kuti,
Eric Dolphy,
Jerry Gold Smith,
Don Cherry,
June Days,
Throbbing Gristle,
Scott Walker + Sunn O))),
One Last Wish,
Marine Girls,
Cymande,
The Black Dice,
The Residents,
Deepchord,
Jeff Mills,
The Fugs,
the Fania All-Stars,
The Dead C,
Jesper Dahlback,
EPMD,
Hasil Adkins,
Kool Moe Dee,
Rakim,
Bauhaus,
Basic Channel,
Nico,
Sad Lovers and Giants,
Scott Walker,
Clear Light,
Idris Muhammad,
Intrusion,
Scratch Acid,
DeepChord presents Echospace,
Alton Ellis,
Trumans Water,
Aswad,
Eric B and Rakim,
The Doors,
Technova,
The Wake,
Ohio Players,
Funky Four + One,
Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway, Donny Hathaway.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.